The document discusses six attributes of efficient OEMs: focused, agile, differentiated, responsive, flexible, and scalable. It provides examples of each attribute using quotes from various OEMs. The key points are that efficient OEMs leverage partnerships like Dell for support services so they can focus on their core competencies, quickly expand into new markets, offer differentiated customer service, provide responsive support, offer flexible support options, and scale support operations through reliable third-party relationships.

1. Six attributes of
efficient OEMs
How smart OEMs use support services to
build strategic advantage

2. 2
In particular, Dell OEM Solutions
has found that a company’s use
of third-party service partnerships
can be especially telling. The
most efficient OEMs tend to be
support-smart, leveraging OEM
Solutions beyond the savings that
can come from Dell designing
and providing a hardware platform
with fulfillment and logistics
services. They see reliable support
partnerships as a key to reducing
costs, and use support to help
gain competitive advantage in a
number of important ways.
This white paper examines some
of the attributes that make an
OEM efficient and pinpoints the
Dell OEM solutions that support
those attributes.
Characterizing the
efficient OEM
The most efficient OEM
companies save money by
leveraging the right product
warranties and service
partnerships—a key advantage
given how important cash can
be to a business and its ability to
seize new opportunities. By not
making a huge outlay of cash up
front to build service infrastructure,
and by exercising the option to
use managed services, these
companies are in a better position
to outpace their competitors.
Doing more with what you have is always an important goal—one that can help make
the difference between business success and failure. But how many businesses are able
to translate that goal into reality? How many are truly efficient? While criteria may vary,
extensive experience helping companies to produce and support their products has given
Dell™
OEM Solutions deep insight into what makes an original equipment manufacturer
(OEM) efficient. Dell has seen time and again that some OEMs consistently know how
to allocate their capital and other resources where they can do the most good.
But what leads some companies
to make the right decisions while
others do not? Based on insights
gained through more than a
decade of experience, Dell OEM
Solutions has identified six attributes
or characteristics shared by many
highly efficient OEM companies.
These companies capitalize on
being focused, agile, differentiated,
responsive, flexible, and scalable.
Focused
Many of the most efficient
OEMs play to their strengths
by focusing on intellectual
property and innovation.
“We never wanted to worry
about hardware quality or
performance...Now we can
concentrate on our value-add,
which is producing innovative
software.”
Bill Culman, Vice President of
Engineering and Operations,
QuorumLabs
Efficient OEMs understand their true
value in the marketplace. They do
what they do best, such as creating
great software products, and develop
ways to evaluate and innovate when
it comes to non-core activities.
Evaluating their options is a primary
indicator of efficiency—thinking
hard about what choice makes the
most sense for them financially
and operationally.
Some ultimately decide that the
costs of providing customer
support services entirely on their
own are greater than providing
some support services through a
partner. For example, companies
may find that maintaining a
global support infrastructure
causes a drain on capital
that could be better spent
developing new products. For
those that make this decision,
there are important benefits to
choosing Dell as a partner. The
OEM can remain the single point
of contact for its customers, yet
leverage Dell’s global support
infrastructure for parts and labor.
The OEM can deploy tech
resources by using Dell
behind the scenes and benefit
from around-the-clock
comprehensive customer
support services, with a network
that requires no up-front
investment. In this way, the OEM
can better preserve its capital
position and remain competitive.
The OEM has more resources to
invest in engineering and R&D,
for instance, instead of opening
and staffing its own service
locations and parts depots.
Operational cost savings
can occur in multiple ways.
First, Dell hardware quality is

3. 3
designed to keep service calls
to a minimum. With quality
control standards that exceed
many in the industry, Dell helps
reduce the burden of managing
resources for service functions.
Second, the Dell in-field repair
and spare parts program
allows OEMs to quickly resolve
service issues without having
to bear the cost of hardware
replacement inventory. For
instances in which the OEM
needs the highest level of
phone support and escalation
management, but does not have
a need for on-site support, Dell
OEM Solutions will collaborate
on a custom solution to meet
the customer’s needs.
Many companies are able to
further reduce service time and
cost by designing serviceability
into their products up front. For
example, the product design
ensures that front-side LED
indicators are visible by service
technicians at a glance, and
field-replaceable units such as
fans and hard drives are readily
accessible. Tool-less chassis
designs are also common. The
result: efficient service and lower
costs for the OEM.
“Our customers can avoid
significant downtime...
Meanwhile, we avoid the
costs of shipping replacement
appliances, the need to stock
replacement units in our
inventory, and the time to
repair hardware by working
with Dell ProSupport.”
Bill Culman, Vice President of
Engineering and Operations,
QuorumLabs
Agile
Efficient OEMs are able to
expand into new markets
and capitalize on new
opportunities without having
to build redundant support
infrastructure.
“We needed an OEM partner that
could deliver global support
so we could accommodate
organizations throughout
North America and Europe.
We can support our customers
effectively and efficiently
everywhere we do business.”
Stephen Catanzano,
CEO and President, Inboxer
Many fast-growing companies
face a situation in which their
product is highly successful in
one market area, but they lack
the local presence and expertise
to support their product in
another part of the world. By
using a support partner when
it makes economic sense, they
can more quickly and easily
enter new markets or regions
to capitalize on opportunities.
They seize these opportunities by
not waiting to build up a service
presence of their own, and by
not limiting themselves based
on the cost of an expanding
market share.
Rapid growth doesn’t have to
mean service suffers. Companies
can expand their business
into new geographic regions
while also reducing repair time
with Dell’s global integration
and fulfillment services and
worldwide support infrastructure.
Additionally, knowing that an
OEM product is built on a Dell
platform and supported by Dell
can help close sales with large
enterprise customers in geographic
areas where the OEM is not yet
well known. Dell OEM Solutions
understands the requirements of
different industries and the customs
and expectations of different
countries, and is ready to help the
OEM fit in and succeed. Beyond
understanding unique support
requirements in various countries,
Dell OEM Solutions helps customers
get their products to market
faster with simplified testing and
regulatory certification processes.
“We can reliably expand to new
geographic regions and deliver
outstanding comprehensive
support to our worldwide
customers thanks to the
global reach of Dell support.”
Chris Petersen, Co-Founder and Chief
Technology Officer, LogRhythm
Differentiated
Many efficient and successful
OEMs offer differentiating
support services that can help
drive new revenue streams.
“With Dell, we can deliver much
better service than we could
before...I anticipate that it will help
us gain market share. By working
with Dell, we can compete and
win against some of the major
players in the industry.”
Andy Eloff, Vice President, Raw Thrills
Efficient OEMs understand that
superior service is one of the most
effective ways to set themselves
apart from competitors. They look

4. 4
for ways to drive additional revenue
through profitable support services
customized to meet the demands
of their customers. Tracking
customer support status can be a
key to revenue generation.
Successful OEMs realize there is a
huge market to be tapped based
on understanding their customers’
technology life cycles. For example,
if an OEM knows that customers will
use its products for approximately
six to seven years, the OEM may
offer extended warranty coverage.
This offer can be made either at
the time of sale or by proactively
reaching out to customers when
initial warranties are about to expire.
Extended hardware warranty
service can provide additional profit
for the OEM and can be aligned
with extended coverage for other
elements of the solution including
software licensing and support.
Making the offer of extended
coverage also restarts the
conversation between the OEM
and its customers. Even if a
customer decides not to extend the
warranty, the renewed conversation
provides an opportunity for the OEM
to discover other opportunities—
such as new Requests for Proposals
(RFPs) that the customer may be
planning to send out.
Efficient OEMs can also differentiate
themselves from their competitors
by helping their customers maximize
productivity—proactive problem
avoidance, remote monitoring,
and self-support features like those
offered by Dell enable the OEM
to ensure continuous uptime for
mission-critical systems. Customers
purchasing OEM products may have
exceptionally high expectations in
terms of uptime. In fact, many large
customers have stringent service-
level agreements (SLAs) built into their
RFP documentation. With the help
of Dell OEM Solutions, OEMs can
compete for profitable but high-SLA
customers and provide assurance
that those requirements can be met.
Another competitive service
advantage is having access to the
Dell Web site, which provides a
highly regarded, one-stop shop for
Dell platform documentation, video-
based teardowns, script-based
troubleshooting, BIOS and driver
updates, and other support tools.
“Global support is a big issue
for us and the quality of Dell’s
support is a real differentiator...
Dell ProSupport offers direct
issue resolution at the customer’s
site, which gives our customers
confidence in their systems.”
Alexander Gun, Head of IT Service,
EXASOL
Responsive
Efficient OEMs deliver
responsive, reliable,
and seamless customer
experiences.
“100 percent of our appliance-
based customers benefit from
Dell 24/7 support for quickly
resolving any potential hardware
issues. Using Dell field services
for hardware support helps
us increase our operational
efficiency, but more importantly,
it helps meets the mission-critical
requirements of our customers.”
Shahar Layani, VP, Professional
Services, North America, Cyber-Ark
Software
Efficient OEMs know that fast
response and reliable service
are key elements for retaining
valuable customers and acquiring
new business. OEMs can deliver
significant improvements in
field service response time
to their customers, greatly
increasing customer satisfaction,
by leveraging Dell OEM Solutions.
For an efficient, seamless
customer experience, OEMs
can structure service so that
they maintain primary customer
contact while smoothly escalating
calls to the support partner.
With a customized queue, Dell
involvement can be completely
transparent to the OEM’s
customers. The OEM handles
the initial customer call and then
initiates a soft handoff to Dell for
additional levels of support.
OEMs often cite security as
another potential consideration
in their support model decisions.
Many OEM customers have
sensitive data, and using Dell to
avoid the need to ship appliances
for repair helps safeguard that
data. By the same token, if an
OEM prefers that a proprietary
appliance not be opened outside
the OEM factory, Dell can
accommodate that approach to
security as well.
Finally, OEMs want to give their
customers the most prized
outcome of all: peace of mind.
Customers of Dell-supported OEM
products can provide that to their
customers and concentrate on their
own core competencies, knowing
that their systems will operate
smoothly well into the future.

5. 5
“By working with Dell Support
Services for OEM, FalconStor
customers are able to protect
their IT investments and
maximize their performance.”
Eric Chen, General Manager,
FalconStor APAC Operations
Flexible
Efficient OEMs provide flexible
support options to meet
the unique needs of their
customers.
“Dell has always kept to a
four-hour response wherever
it’s been needed. This really
differentiates Dell from the
competition because other
firms aren’t as flexible. It
means a lot to our customers
and we’ve seen positive
feedback.”
—Dirk Vandenhirtz, CEO, LemnaTec
Many of the most efficient OEMs
recognize that their customers
also want to be efficient—they
enable customers to purchase
just the level of service they
need by offering a choice of
service plans. Dell can help
OEMs select from a variety of
field service plans, including
four-hour on-site response in
over 100 countries around the
world. Warranty coverage can
be extended by length of years,
speed of response, and other
factors to fit the customer’s
specific requirements. Dell has
more than 30,000 people in tech
support, parts, and field service
who are at the OEM’s disposal
to perform service and replace
parts on short notice.1
Collaborative troubleshooting
and service escalation can also
be customized to fit the OEM’s
unique service model. Many
OEMs prefer to handle the
initial customer call and then
initiate a soft handoff to Dell
for the second and third levels
of support. An OEM can deploy
tech resources by using Dell
behind the scenes or in the front
line on their behalf.
If an OEM’s technician decides
that the OEM product requires
hardware break/fix service, that
technician can use the Dell
Online Self Dispatch (DOSD)
tool to send Dell parts and
labor to the customer location
without having to contact Dell
OEM Solutions. This shortens
the service call time, ultimately
saving money for the OEM. It
also improves perceived service
quality, because the service is
quick and the OEM does not
have to disconnect the customer
to call Dell.
When OEMs have an especially
complex product, they can
divide support services between
their own technicians and
Dell support personnel. Dell
technicians could respond to
computer requirements such
as a hard drive replacement,
while the OEM’s more costly
specialized technicians could
remain responsible for the other
portions of the device. The
OEM would be able to reduce
service costs by limiting its own
technicians to only those repairs
requiring advanced knowledge
of the OEM system.
Efficient OEMs also have the
flexibility to increase support
for initial test units deployed at
a customer’s location, and then
provide more economical but still
responsive support choices like
four-hour or next-business-day
service once the platform is fully
debugged and stabilized.
“If our solution has an issue,
it can affect the whole
organization. We need the best
support for our software and our
appliance. Dell delivers on both.”
Adam Bosnian, Executive Vice President
of the Americas, Cyber-Ark Software
Scalable
One of the key strengths
of efficient OEMs is the
ability to quickly scale
support operations through
reliable third-party service
relationships.
“We know that Dell support
will scale well as we gain
customers.”
—Andy Eloff, Vice President, Raw Thrills
Sometimes rapid success can
catch an OEM off guard when
it comes to provisioning for
customer support. Support
service requirements can grow
exponentially as products gain
traction and sales take off. Under
these circumstances, how can an
OEM grow efficiently, profitably,
and with minimum risk?
Many successful OEMs grow
efficiently by tapping into as much
outsourcing support as they
need at each step of the way. For
example, it is entirely feasible for

6. 6
an OEM with just a single U.S. support location
to serve customers worldwide. The OEM’s
U.S. operators can dispatch a Dell part and an
engineer on-site in China—or anywhere the
company’s growth takes it.
Efficient OEMs can also grow profitably,
because warranty cost is built into each Dell
box and remains static and predictable as
the OEM scales. For example, there is no
additional cost for increased use of services
such as Dell Online Self-Dispatch as the
volume of support increases.
Using partner support services can mitigate
the risk inherent in expansion by limiting
the capital and human resources that OEMs
must invest in expansion efforts. OEMs
can leverage the Dell network instead of
hiring additional technicians themselves
and rely on Dell knowledge and experience
to smooth the way into new countries.
They can hand off the complexity of
warehousing and supplying parts as part
of the Dell service contract. These OEMs
also have a single point of accountability to
troubleshoot hardware problems as they
grow—someone that understands their
businesses and end-user requirements.
“Because we ultimately planned to sell the
Xdream around the world, we needed a
partner with a global presence that could
provide distribution and warranty support
services wherever we sell the product...
We estimate that we are saving 30 percent
of our per-unit costs by sourcing and
supporting products in each geographic
region through Dell OEM Solutions.”
Paddy Murray, President, Trixter North America
One size does not fit all
Dell OEM Solutions offers several categories of support
services, enabling OEMs to tailor the right amount of
parts and labor support for their needs.
Hardware Support
• Dell Basic Hardware Services—Companies receive
hardware repair and replacement during local
business hours, the most basic level of support.
While Basic Hardware Service is a start to maintain
equipment, most OEMs benefit from enhanced
levels of support.
• Dell ProSupport™
for OEM—Dell ProSupport for
OEM provides 24/7/365 support and includes a
90-day warranty extension, at no additional cost,
available exclusively on OEM-ready and Extended
Live hardware. OEMs can select the speed of
response, the level of protection, and the amount
of proactive support required to meet the needs of
their customer base—for example, four-hour, next
business day, or other service-level agreements
(SLAs) for parts and labor, collaborative hardware
and software support, and escalation management
(see Figure 1).
• Multivendor Support—OEMs can take advantage of
the award winning Dell ProSupport™
level of service
on all assets in your multivendor installed base, not
just your Dell assets. Consolidating your hardware
support under one service contract simplifies
support for your installed base and saves you
money, effort, and time.
Additional Services
• Dell Online Self Dispatch—OEMs can use this
Web-based tool to self-diagnose and send
Dell parts and technical personnel to a customer
location themselves, without having to contact
Dell OEM Support services.
• Dell IT Advisory Services—OEMs receive a
designated support contact to help manage
escalations, collaborate on custom service plans, and
provide service reporting across their installed base.

7. 7
Capitalizing on support
services with Dell OEM
Solutions
One of the most important
decisions an OEM can make
is the type of warranty and
support service chosen for its
product. Dell OEM Solutions
helps companies of all sizes in
a wide range of fields to bring
their products to market faster
and expand business volume
through smart warranty and
support choices. With Dell
OEM Solutions, companies can
combine industry-standard
Dell hardware with customized
design and branding to produce
a powerful, reliable, and
innovative product.
Start strengthening your
customer relationships with
a support-smart service
infrastructure today. Dell OEM
Solutions is ready to work up
front or behind the scenes for
your solution, helping you to
showcase and extend your value
to your customers.
For more information
Find out more about what Dell
warranties and OEM support
services can do for you. For more
information, contact your Dell
OEM Solutions representative or
visit: dell.com/oemservices.
Companies can take advantage
of a comprehensive selection of
services. Dell OEM Solutions offers
a flexible suite of support services
delivered via Dell’s global support
infrastructure (see the sidebar,
One size does not fit all).
Building a support-smart
organization
It all adds up to being smart about
customer support—knowing
when to use managed services
instead of putting more demands
on in-house tech support teams,
and understanding that resources
saved through an effective
customer service partnership
can be funneled back into core
product innovation.
Figure 1. Comparison of Dell Basic Hardware Service and Dell ProSupport
Local business hours support ü ü
Basic hardware troubleshooting ü ü
Multivendor hardware support + +
Next-business-day parts and on-site response + ü
24x7x365 support ü
In-region support ü
Hardware and software support from advanced technicians ü
Customer self-identified severity level 2 and 3 ü
Remote troubleshooting and diagnostics ü
Application/software how-to and troubleshooting ü
Getting-started assistance ü
Designated escalation management ü
ProSupportBasic
+ = Optional
Avaliability and terms of Dell Services vary by region. For more information, visit www.dell.com/servicedescriptions

8. 8
1
All claims based on 2/15/2010, annual summation of GSS Capabilities Information, populated by Dell internal GSS Core Team members. Availability and terms of Dell
Services vary by region. For more information, visit www.dell.com/servicedescriptions.
© 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this material in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of Dell Inc. is strictly forbidden. For
more information, contact Dell.
Dell, the DELL logo, the DELL badge, and ProSupport are trademarks of Dell Inc. Other trademarks and trade names may be used in this document to refer to either the
entities claiming the marks and names or their products. Dell Inc. disclaims any proprietary interest in trademarks and trade names other than its own.
September 2011